Head of Special Collections, Sheila O'Neill and Hellenic Studies Research Fellow, Aaron Richardson

Thanks to special funding provided through the Hellenic Studies Center at Sacramento State, Aaron Richardson continues with the Vlavianos project this summer and fall as a Research Fellow. Aaron will continue to serve as lead archivist in the arrangement and description of this large and complex collection.

Over the course of the summer and fall semesters, he will describe documentation related to Vlavianos’ role as publisher of the National Herald, as well as his varied activities related to the Greek War Relief effort in the U.S. and internationally.

Aaron will also carry out research for an upcoming exhibit on the topic of Greece during WWII. We are all very pleased to still have Aaron among the Vlavianos troops who work in the trenches each semester to arrange and describe this valuable research collection.

On October 28, 1940, Benito Mussolini, dictator of Italy, made an offer he thought could not be refused to the Prime Minister of Greece, Ioannis Metaxas. Italian troops were to enter Greece and occupy the country. Metaxas’s answer? A resounding NO. In the battle that ensued, Greece not only defended its border, but pushed the Italian troops up into Albania.
In an October 29, 1940 article, Basil J. Vlavianos, now editor of the National Herald, quoted Constantine Cavafy, “Honor to those who in the life they lead define and guard a Thermopylae” in praise of the actions of both the government and people of Greece.
In Greece, songs of victory were heard throughout the streets. And artists like Sofia Vembo and Nikos Gounaris couldn’t help but mock Mussolini’s humiliating defeat in songs like “Mussolini the Fool,” “Il Duce Puts on His Uniform,” and “Tsk, Tsk, What Did Mussolini Suffer?”

Professor Apostolos Athanassakis, who will deliver this Friday, March 20, the Opening Night Lecture for the Mehri Yazdani exhibit in the University Library Gallery(exhibit: “Hellenism & the Elements”; lecture: “Hellenic Poetry as the Art of Speaking through the Elements”) has offered to preside at an informal discussion of various topics relating to his scholarship and teaching.

The discussion will take place this Friday from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. on the CSUS campus in Amador 354. Feel free to drop in or to leave anytime during the session.

Professor Athanassakis is an expert on Homeric poetry and on Hesiod, among various other subjects in classical studies. Depending on the interests of attendees, topics of discussion likely will include:

· Homeric geography

· Arrangement of the books of the Odyssey

· Translating the works of Hesiod, the Homeric poems, the Orphic hymns, the Apocolocyntosis, et al.

(Some have probably read his translations published by Johns Hopkins University press, and included in classical mythology anthologies, etc.) For information on Professor Apostolos: http://www.classics.ucsb.edu/athanassakis.php

The Hellenic Studies Program at California State University, Sacramento, Tsakopoulos Hellenic Foundation, American Hellenic Professional Society, and the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation (USA) invite you to join us for the upcoming lecture by Dr. Sotiris Mousouris, former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations and former President of the Organization of the Construction of the New Acropolis Museum.

The Hellenic Studies Program at California State University, Sacramento, Tsakopoulos Hellenic Foundation, American Hellenic Professional Society, and the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation (USA) invite you to join us for the opening night of the Hellenism and the Elements exhibit and presentation by the artist, Ms. Mehri Yazdani.

Ms. Yazdani will give a presentation entitled: “The Seed: The Creation of the Elements”

Sunday, March 15, 2009 University Library Gallery (1st floor)

Schedule of Events:

6:00 – 7:00 p.m. exhibit viewing and reception

7:00 – 8:30 p.m. presentation and discussion.

The presentation and reception are free and open to the public.This event has been made possible by generous grants from the Tsakopoulos Hellenic Foundation.

For further information, contact Dr. Katerina Lagos at (916) 278-7103.